We face a set of extremely serious challenges in society - on welfare, the economy, our international standing - and a handful of organisations are busy creating a quiet revolution by bringing together a group of fresh faces to forge new relationships and come up with new solutions.

At the end of last week, the Daily Mail reported research that rightwingers are thicker than lefties, and so, by implication, that this government is less clever than the last. It raises the question: how bright do you need to be to govern?

We shouldn't worry about lobbyists because the industry is actually in its death throes. It is poised to disappear with the power shift from politics to wider society which will take secret decision making, unofficial advisers, and funny handshakes with it.